As a newbie,what preventive measures should one have in place to make sure that their accounts are not defrauded or scammed?
It's enough that you are using strong generated password for your account and enable 2FA in settings.
If you want to be even more secure than don't click on any links received from other members in PM.
More important is to have good protection for your email address, or even better use special dedicated email only for bitcointalk forum.